While paying tributes to Lokmanaya Tilak, Mangat Ram Sharma dealt in length the Congress history and role of Balgangadhar Tilk during the freedom struggle. He said that Mahatma Gandhi described Lokmanaya Tilak as father of the Indian destiny. He was the first to embrace ‘swaraj’ as national goal, said Mangat Ram. He asked the Congressmen to follow the path of our veteran leaders who shaped the destiny of the country and led the freedom.
Addressing the meeting, Capt. Praveen Davar, Secretary AICC, said that Lokmanaya Tilak was the ‘tallest’ leader of the freedom movement before the beginning of Gandhi era. He said that Tilak’s slogan of “Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it”, uttered over 100 years ago, remains a great source of inspiration even today while recalling the history of freedom struggle.
Capt. Davar highlighted the salient events of Lokmanaya Tilk’s life and his historic role in laying the foundations of freedom movement launched under Mahatma Gandhi whose era began with Tilak’s demise in 1920. The AICC secretary quoted extensively from Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s tribute to Tilak in 1956 and the “Discovery of India”. Pt. Nehru called Lokmanaya Tilak as “the father of
Capt. Davar said that the “Home Rule Movement” started by Tilak was the crowning glory of his career which will be remembered for his supreme courage, sacrifice and patriotism.
S. Gurmukh Singh while addressing the gathering narrated the history of Congress party and its role during freedom struggle. He said that Nehru described Lokmanaya Tilak as “indomitable Tilak who would not bent though he break”. S.Gurmukh Singh further said that Lokmanaya Tilak was a practical man and also believed in strength of the common man. Congressmen should unitedly work for strengthening the secular fabric of the country and adhere to the path shown by our leaders like Lokmanaya Tilak, said S. Gurmukh Singh. His activism and moderation during his era is very well reflected in the freedom struggle after 1920 when Mahatma Gandhi took the reign of the struggle by intensifying satyagrah and negotiation channels.
Thakur Hari Singh, Vice President PCC appreciated the efforts of Celebration Committee to organize such educative function for the benefit of younger generation. He thanked the Congressmen for mass participation in the function.
.Prominent among those who participated in the meeting included S/Shri Ravinder Sharma-MLC, Smt. Swarn Lata-Vice Chairman SC Board, Mula Ram, Girdhari Lal Chalotra, Smt. Kanta Bhan, Om Chopra, D.S.Langeh, Chuni Lal Bhat, Manmohan Singh, Uttam Singh, Smt. Lalita Sharma, Smt. Raj Bakshi, Ch. Sukh Dev Singh, B.B.Gupta, S.Kirtan Singh, V.K.Sethi, Inder Sehgal, Sunil Kumar, Harkekat Singh Sasan, Bhagwan Singh, Talenter Singh, Jagdish Dogra, Pritam Singh, Ashwani Puri, Ravi Singh Salathia, Manjit Singh Bedi, Parnav Shagotra, Neeraj Gupta, Manjit Singh Jatt, Gopal Sharma, Tareem Lal, Vivek Gupta, Sanjeev Sharma, Pritam Singh Jamwal, Davinder Singh & others.
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